Test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change of the hexagon agility test.

The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change of the hexagon test. The hexagon test is a routinely used measure of agility in the sports and rehabilitation professions, yet its reliability has not been investigated in prior research. A total of 26 college-aged men and women of various activity levels were recruited to participate in 3 testing sessions: baseline, 1 hour after baseline, and 48 hours after baseline.

The hexagon test shows excellent reliability for measuring agility, which supports its use as a tool to assess athletic performance and lower-extremity agility. Evidence of reliability, in addition to its ease of administration, makes the hexagon test a practical and effective method to measure agility. When using this test as a measure of agility, a change of greater than 1.015 seconds is necessary to be 95% certain that the change in time reflects improvement and exceeds measurement error. A practice trial is recommended prior to recording scores to attenuate the possibility of a learning effect.

Beekhuizen KS, Davis MD, Kolber MJ, Cheng MS. Test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change of the hexagon agility test. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Oct;23(7):2167-71